As David Kirschner, one of the franchise's main ideators, summarized things for the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 1988, "It’s like a John Ford western with Jewish mice." And who better to play a pivotal role in Fievel Goes West than one of the Western genre's last living kings, Jimmy Stewart? According to a 1991 profile piece Stewart did for the Los Angeles Times, Stewart's work ethic ("a habit he treasures") and his decades of "learned craft" experience prompted "Steven Spielberg to zero in on the tallish actor at a party." Stewart agreed, "with one condition: Spielberg had to be in the studio directing him.



True to his promise, Steven Spielberg personally worked with Jimmy Stewart for An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. According to the LA Times, "Stewart and the other voices [...] were recorded as many as 10 times each session at different speeds and with different phrasings. Spielberg chose the acceptable take and the animators then had to match the action to the voice." Stewart wasn't a stranger to working in a recording booth; the process spanned just 10 days.